Second best
by Lunas twin123
Summary: Two best friends in love. Can they go against all the odds and build a healthy relationship ? Harry/Hermione. Ron bashing. Rated M for language and violence. I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER - CLEARLY!
1. Trapped

**Harry/Hermione  
****This is my first fan fiction ever, so sorry if it's terrible. Lol. If it is, please review and tell me how to change it. **

**WARNING!!  
****Some strong language, Ron bashing and mention of rape. [No detail]  
SOME CHARACTERS ARE OOC TTM!! [ESPECIALY RON!!] YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! :] **

**Obviously, I don't own Harry Potter. **

**This chapter is a bit gory, but the next one will hopefully have less blood.  
****  
This story ignores the Harry-Ginny pairing and Lupins' death. It is set a year after Deathly Hallows [ignoring the epilogue], they are all living at Grimauld place and Ron and Ginny aren't brother and sister. This is because I've made Ron a psycho and Ginny a sweet heart and you'd need some freaky genetics for that to make sense.****  
**

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Hermione Granger was sat in a big blue armchair, in the library of 12 Grimmauld Place. She was trying to read a book on the Grodzisk Goblins Quidditch team from Poland but she couldn't concentrate. Her mind was 100% occupied by her best friend, Harry Potter.

She had always had a soft spot for Harry, ever since she had helped him get the philosophers stone when she was only eleven. She had thought he was brave, kind and loyal. However, Harry had always had millions of girls chasing after him because he was the chosen one, and he defeated Lord Voldemort. So Hermione had always kept her feelings for him to herself and acted as his friend and nothing more.

Harry had another best friend named Ron Weasley. Ron was a tall, red haired boy who thought that the world revolved around him. He refused to do any of his homework when they were in Hogwarts and he insisted on copying.

He flirted with Hermione nonstop and obviously liked her, but she could always tell that he was a lazy idiot through and through. When Harry got his first girlfriend, Cho Chang of Hufflepuff, Hermione tried to move on by flirting back at Ron.

When Hermione was seventeen, she helped fight in the battle of Hogwarts, but they were outnumbered and she realised that she may never get her first kiss. She had a sudden impulse to kiss the next person she saw.

She turned around to see Ron babbling about house elves. She threw her arms around Ron and kissed him full on the lips. Much to her disgust, they had been together ever since because she was scared of what he might do if she broke up with him.

Ever since that day she regretted it because Ron may have just been an idiot back then, but now, he was angry at her all the time. He had turned violent more than once and so she tried to just do what he wanted. She was more of an object than a girlfriend.

When Ron wasn't lying on the couch drinking fire whisky, he was pressuring Hermione for sex and if she tried to refuse, he would simply make her. He didn't care if he hurt her or if she didn't want to; he would just pin her arms down and if she screamed in pain [as usual] he would beat her afterwards until she bled.

Hermione thought about what it would be like to be with Harry instead. He would never hurt her. At least he cares about her, even if it is as just a friend. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek. Just then Ginny Weasley, Hermione's best girl friend, walked into the library.

Ginny knew Hermione liked Harry and she knew that Ron was a prick, but she didn't know that he had raped her and she didn't understand why she couldn't leave him. Hermione quickly wiped away the stray tear and turned to face Ginny with a smile she hoped was sincere. Ginny threw her a questioning look and came to sit on the arm of the chair. She put her arm around Hermione and hugged her.

"It's Ron again isn't it again isn't it," she asked "What's he done now?"

"Nothing really, I was just thinking about Harry again." Ginny sighed

"I don't know what to tell you. Harry is obviously blind to not see how special you are."

"Ginny, I don't want to sound rude, but I really just want to be alone right now." said Hermione, hoping that she hadn't offended her. Ginny smiled, hugged her and left to go upstairs to her room.

Hermione was happy Ginny had left because otherwise she would have seen the emotional breakdown that Hermione faced when she realised that there was no way out of this abusive relationship. If she fought, she would lose. If she ran, he would hunt her down. If she stayed, there was no way out. She was trapped. Then the tears really came.

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_**Harry was lying awake in his bed thinking about Hermione. She was all he ever thought about now that he couldn't distract himself with horcruxes. He knew Ron liked her, so he had avoided mentioning to anybody that he had been madly in love with her ever since she had asked him if he had seen a toad when he was only eleven. He had tried moving on by going out with Cho Chang. **_

_**This had seemed to be working a little bit, but then he saw Hermione and Ron sat alone by the fire in the Gryffindor common room. It broke his heart when he saw that Ron had his arm around her. "That could have been me." He had thought to himself. Harry stopped concentrating on his school work and Cho. Eventually he and Cho had fallen apart and he found himself back at square one. Harrys' mouth had suddenly become very dry, so he set off down the hall to get some water from the kitchen.**_

_**He reached the library and stopped. This was Hermiones' favourite room. He sighed, If only he had told her how he felt. He heard voices coming from inside the library. He was just about to leave when he heard the mention of his name. **_

_**"...about Harry again." The Voices sounded female, but he couldn't really tell.**_

_**"I don't know what to tell you..." Harry decided that he shouldn't listen because it was wrong. Somebody could be confessing something really private and it wouldn't be right for him to hear. **_

_**He walked away towards the stairs, but before he reached them, he felt himself trip on what seemed to be long and thin. He hurtled forwards towards the stairs and fell down them. He hit about twenty stairs before smashing to the ground. He tried to stay awake, but his eyes drifted closed and everything went black.**_

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Hermione sat in the library for just over an hour after Ginny left. When she had finally calmed down she realised how late it was and she headed off towards the kitchen to get some water. At the top of the stairs there was a broomstick that somebody had left lying around, so she picked it up and propped it up against the wall.

As she walked down the stairs she was looking at the grey ceiling trying to figure out what colour it used to be. She got to the bottom of the stairs, tripped over something soft and fell flat on her face. She felt blood slowly dripping past her mouth from her nose.

"Damn it." She cursed to herself, before turning to see what had tripped her.

She stared in horror at Harrys' body lying motionless in a puddle of blood. She quickly looked back at the stairs and saw what she would have seen before if she had been concentrating. At the top of the staircase there was a little splatter of blood, but as her eyes travelled downwards the blood stains got worse until her eyes were on the fierce, red pool at the bottom.

She tried to lift Harry, but she was too weak. She was angry with herself for leaving her wand in the library. She couldn't bring herself to leave him, so she tried again. She could feel the hot tears streaming down her face as she half carried, half dragged her best friends' mangled body to the nearest bedroom and with much effort lifted him onto the bed. With shaking hands, she lifted his wrist and checked his pulse.

She let out a sigh when she realised his heartbeat was still going steady. Just then Lupin ran in "What happened!? There's blood all over the stairs!" he asked franticly. Then he saw Harry lying on the bed covered in blood. He sprinted over to him and checked his pulse. He sighed just as Hermione had when she knew Harry was okay.

Remus turned around, his face a lot calmer than before. He asked once again what happened. Hermione felt flustered. What _had_ happened?

"Well I don't know really. I was in the library and I was going down stairs to get some water and I found Harry at the bottom of the stairs. I think he must have fallen. There was blood everywhere... His face was covered in it... I think he's unconscious... and... A..." Hermione burst into tears again. Remus hugged her and reassured her it would be fine.

When Hermione had calmed down, Remus cast several healing charms. "He should be fine in about five hours," He told her, "I'll go and tell everyone so that they don't worry and I think I need some coffee."

"Okay, thank you, Remus."

"No problem." He smiled and left.

After about an hour, Ginny, Sirius, Fred, George, Bill and Charlie had all come to check if he was okay. After they had left Hermione walked back over to Harrys' bed and sat in the little wooden stool next to it. She moved so that she was facing him.

"I love you and I'm so sorry. I couldn't help you quicker and now you're unconscious. I feel terrible." She whispered to him.

Then Ron barged in, saw Hermione and laughed. "You're so stupid. He can't hear you."

"I know that." She said feebly, standing up.

"Then why do you bother. He might as well be dead." A horrible image filled Hermiones' mind of Harrys' eyes rolling back into his head. She shivered.

"Yeah, you'd hate that, if your precious little friend was dead. Personally I wouldn't mind really. He's just a stupid, good-for-nothing prat." He sounded a bit like a spoiled eight year old that had just been told that the store was out of the toy car that he wanted.

"He killed Voldemort." She said quietly.

"Maybe that's not a good thing. How bad would it really have been if he ran the ministry?"

"They would have killed all the muggle-bornes. They would have killed me." Ron shrugged as if that was old news.

"Just mudbloods." He said nonchalantly.

"You're such a twat, Ron." she spat at him. He smiled wickedly. She knew what he was going to do. He pulled her towards him and she pulled away with all her might, but he was too strong for her. He crashed his lips to hers and she just stood not responding because she knew it was hopeless.

He started to kiss down her neck and his hands felt their way around to her front and ripped at her shirt. Normally she would have just prepared for the pain and taken it, but she wasn't going to let him get away with it this time. Especially when Harry was lying on the bed right next to them, so she slapped him across the face. **Hard. **

He pushed her into the china cabinet on the opposite side of the room. She gasped as half of the vases and pottery crashed down on her, cutting into her skin. She picked herself up, pieces of china stuck into her arms, face and stomach.

"What the fuck is wrong with you??" she screamed.

"It's your own fault. You stupid little slut." he roared.

"How the hell is it my fault that you think no means yes? How is my fault that you hit me when I say no? How is it my fault that when I refuse to sleep with you, you just do it anyway?" yelled Hermione finally cracking.

"You're always with Harry. You've always liked him more!"

"OH WELL SPOTTED EINSTEIN!! MAYBE THAT'S BECUASE HARRY'S NEVER _RAPED ME!? _HE CARES ABOUT ME BECAUSE HE'S A DECENT PERSON!!"_  
_

"YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING YOU GET!" He turned to walk away.

"And don't bother coming back, you prick. You've been mooching off Harry for long enough. Go back to the Burrow." He stopped and turned around.

"Fine, I don't care about either of you anyway," He walked towards Hermione and shoved her into the cabinet again making the remaining vases smash into her. She gasped. He kicked her in the gut and spat on her bloody face before storming out.

Hermione got up from the broken china again. She looked down at herself and saw that there were deep cuts running through her arms, stomach and face. She collapsed next to Harrys' bed and cried. Why did she never tell anyone?

She had never told Ginny because she thought she might make her tell everyone else and she was too scared to tell Harry because Ron wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

After she pulled herself together, she went to sit back on the stool next to Harrys' bed. She tried to repair the damage done to her shirt, but there was a big rip in the chest and a tear in the stomach. Not to mention all the blood stains.

Harry was still lying in the same position that he was when Lupin had left. His eyes were closed, his lips were slightly parted and his arms and legs were relaxed. He looked so innocent and vulnerable. She took both his hands in hers and it was at that moment she realised that she should have never settled for second best.

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**What did you think? ****Should I upload the next chapter? Reviews are greatly appreciated. =]  
xx**


	2. Waking up

**Waking up**

Harry opened his eyes to see Hermione sat in a stool next to his bed, her face covered in blood and the tear tracks were clearly visible on her face. She was wearing a white top that was ripped at the stomach and chest revealing her pale, bare flesh. Her face and clothes were dripping in blood, but she still looked beautiful somehow. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. When Hermione saw he was awake, she got up and hugged him fiercely. He wrapped his arms around her waist and smelt her hair. "Thank god you're all right." She whispered into his shoulder. She pulled away and looked at him with her big brown eyes. He patted the bed next to him and she sat beside him.

He was going to ask why she was covered in blood and her dress ripped, but got cut off.  
"Do you remember what happened?" she asked. He told her all he could remember right up to where his memory went blank. He listened intently to her tale of how she found him.  
'She really does care about me." He thought to himself. He let his thumb nail dig into the palm of his hand. He couldn't let himself think like that.

"I was so worried when I found you, I thought you were dead." Hermione wrapped her arms around his waist and hid her face in his chest. She was very cold and was shivering, so Harry pulled her towards him, allowing her to press up against him and get warm.

"You didn't think a flight of stairs could kill 'The boy who lived' did you?" he asked, with mock surprise. Hermione laughed and pulled away, but kept a firm grip on his arm. It was like she was scared to let go of him in case he went and fell down some more stairs.

"How long have I been unconscious?" he asked, not sure whether he wanted to know the answer.  
"I don't know exactly, but I found you at about 11pm last night."  
"What time is it now?" Hermione glanced at the clock on the wall.  
"Three thirty in the morning."  
"Wow, I must have been out cold."  
"Yeah, you didn't move once."  
"Did you stay the whole time?" he asked, surprised.  
"I was too worried to do anything else." Harry was happy that she cared, even if it was just as a friend. He smiled to himself.

Hermione had several cuts on her face and deep gashes on her arms and stomach. He used his index finger to trace the longest one that went from her temple and halfway down her neck. She winced when he did this.

"What happened?" he whispered  
"When I found you, I tripped over and got a few cuts. Nothing big." Harry knew that falling over couldn't do that much damage.

Harry noticed several piece of china stuck in her hair and looked over to the cabinet that usually held the china and vases. It was empty now and at the bottom was a pile of broken pottery and a pool of blood. He picked a piece of china out of her hair and looked at her questioningly. "Okay. What _really_ happened?" Hermione shuffled on the bed a bit and stared at her feet.  
"Hermione," he said. She sighed and turned to face him. "What happened?" he asked for the third time.  
"Well... I..."

"It's okay," Harry whispered, taking her hands in his, "You can trust me." She took a deep breath.  
"When Lupin left, some people came to check if you were okay. When they had all left I sat down next to you and started talking to you. Then Ron came in. He said I was being stupid because you couldn't hear me. He started saying all these things about mudbloods, so I called him a twat. He kissed me and I tried to pull away, but he was too strong. He tried to rip my dress open. He was trying to... I mean it's not the first time he's..." She swallowed, "Raped me, and normally I would have just taken the pain because I know if I say no, he gets violent, but you were lying right there and I couldn't just let him... So I slapped him. He pushed me into the cabinet and half the vases fell on me. Then I cracked. I have been putting up with him for a year and I'd had enough. I yelled at him and he yelled back. He was saying how I like you way more than him and I told him that that was obvious because you would never hurt me. He said I deserve everything I get. We just yelled at each other and then when I told him to leave, he pushed me into the cabinet again and the rest of the vases and stuff fell on me. He said he didn't care about me or anybody here. He kicked me in the stomach, spat in my face and then he... left."

Harry was staring at her, wide eyed, his mouth slightly open. Ron had raped her. Ever since the end of the war, when she had kissed him, Harry had always thought that they were totally in love, but Ron had been forcing her to have sex with him ever since. Harry had thought that she was happy, but she had been in pain. He finally understood all of Rons' cryptic remarks whenever he spoke of her.

At first Harry was angry; furious even. How could Ron do something like this? Ron was supposed to be Harrys' best friend. He thought he had known Ron inside out, but he didn't know what to believe anymore.

A burning hate filled Harrys' lungs, his stomach, his heart. Ron had helped him find horcruxes and defeat Voldemort, and yet he had felt no shame when he raped Hermione. He was so overwhelmed by the fact that someone who had stuck with him through everything wasn't who harry had thought he was at all. It seemed impossible that the skinny red head he had met on platform 9 ¾ could do something like this.

Now that Harry thought about it, he had often walked into Hermiones' room and her face was tear streaked, but he had always just presumed that she was homesick. He hated Ron for what he had done. He wanted revenge. He wanted Ron to know that he couldn't get away with this.

But then Harry looked at Hermione and his fury vanished. Her face, arms and chest were covered in blood. Hermiones' chestnut hair was matted and her chocolate eyes were glistening with tears. Harry knew that revenge would have to wait because she needed him to be there for her and to comfort her.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. He felt very protective over her. She cried into his chest. "It's okay now. He's never going to come near you again, I promise." He whispered softly.

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to her room. He placed her lightly on her bed, told her to get changed and to try and get some sleep. He knew if he stayed much longer he might do something stupid, like tell her that he's been in love with her ever since he was eleven, so he turned and headed towards the door.

He was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Hermione, looking confused.  
"Please don't leave me." she said in a small voice. He embraced her small body.  
"Don't worry; I'll stay if you want me to." She nodded. Harry glanced down at his blood stained clothes. He used a summoning charm to get something to sleep in. He took off his t-shirt and jeans and pulled on his old grey sweats, leaving his chest bare. 

He turned around to see Hermione facing away from him wearing a pair of grey shorts and a deep purple bra. She was pulling on a t-shirt, but before she could get it over her head, Harry saw the scars running down her back. He could see tell that some of them were from today, but the majority had definitely been there for a while.  
"Did _he_ do that?" Harry asked. She hesitated and turned around. Harry saw that there were several more scars running across her stomach and chest.  
"Do what?" she asked, tilting her head slightly. Harry indicated to the scars all over her body. "Shit." She muttered trying to cover them, by pulling the t-shirt over her again.  
"It's okay." He said, stepping towards her.  
"No, it's not," she said bitterly, "Don't try and pretend that you're not totally disgusted by it. I'm scared and it's not okay. It's never going to be okay because I have _these_ as a constant reminder of why I'm stupid and weak." Harry walked over to her and wrapped her in his arms.  
"You're still beautiful to me." He kissed her cheek. She looked up at him, slightly bemused. "Sorry," he muttered, "Sometimes it's hard to control myself around you." He started to step away from her, but she threw her arms around him and, with some kind new energy, kissed him with all her might.

Harry was taken aback, but soon sunk into the kiss that he had dreamed of since he was eleven. Their mouths were moving as one as she tangled her hands in his hair and he grabbed her waist. She pulled his head closer to hers; her tongue grazed his bottom lip, asking for entrance, which he happily granted. They kissed for what could have been fifteen minutes or fifteen days. Either way they both knew that it was perfect.

When they finally broke apart, Harry, panting, kissed her lightly on the lips once more. "You really need some sleep." He whispered, their foreheads still pressed together.  
"Mhmm." was all that she managed. She took Harrys hand and led him to the warm, cosy bed.

He lay next to Hermione as she fell asleep. She must have been tired after today, Harry thought. He had his hands behind his head, just like before, staring up at the grotty ceiling. After a while he peered at her lying next to him. She was curled up, facing away from him and she appeared to be shivering because the blanket had slipped off her.

Harry pulled it over her again and she sighed. She rolled over, into Harrys' chest and draped a slender arm around his waist. He pulled her into him and wrapped his toned arms around her fragile body. She smiled in her sleep and sighed again.

Harry had never been so comfortable in his life. He felt that this was where he belonged, with Hermione in his arms. Her bushy hair splayed carelessly over her face. He gently moved it behind her ear, before resting his head on the pillow and falling into a deep sleep.


End file.
